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July 02, 2011 (LBO) - Kingfisher, a private Indian carrier has expressed interest in opening a route to Laos and Vietnam India's Ambassador to Vientiane, Jitendra Nath Misra said ahead of a joint business forum between the two countries.The inaugural Laos Northern India Business Forum starts on July 02, attended by a delegation from Laos, organized by the Assam Chamber of Commerce and Indian Chamber of Commerce based in Lao.

"The airline links between Northeastern India Laos will also be a key issue at the First Laos-Northern India Business," Ambassador Misra reporters.

President of the Indian Chamber of Commerce to Laos, Habib Mohammed Chowdhury said the forum will focus on expanding trade, business, tourism, mining, hydropower, education, information technology and infrastructure between Laos and India.

Meerut: Scary phone calls for planting bombs.Traders are a fear-stricken lot in Meerut town of Uttar Pradesh after phone calls originating from foreign soils are asking them to engineer blast for money.The police have ordered a probe by the Special Task Force into the mysterious call from Iran to a meat trader in Meerut offering him money to engineer riots and blasts in the city, a senior police officer said.A meat trader in Ismail Nagar of Meerut, approached the police claiming that he received three calls from Iran on the night of July 13, special director general of police Brij Lal told reporters.Ilahi had alleged that the caller offered him Rs 2 crore to carry out blasts and engineer riots in the city."They called me from these three numbers + 9837173840, + 3444050 and + 7868970150," Hashim Ilahi added. He was apparently selected for the deadly assignment because "the last number of my mobile phone was 786", considered auspicious in Islam, a newspaper reported."The investigation into the case is being handed over to the STF. Initial investigation has revealed that the call originated from Iran and landed at India gateway through US and the subscriber got it through a private operator," the SDG said.

Enraged by the administration's apathy, the association members were set to meet Chief Minister Prithviraj Chavan to inform him about their decision.

They claim the Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi has already given them an option to come to his state.

Great idea! Rashtriya mechanism is slowly making it clear as to where they stand. More power to the folks. From Kashmir yatra, Delhi atrocities to Mumbai blasts the obsession is to fudge, obfuscate and deny justice. They should move and not make empty gestures.

Investigators probing the triple blasts in Mumbai on July 13 have narrowed down the likely perpetrators to terror outfit Indian Mujahideen. This is after investigators concluded that the bombs used in Mumbai were similar to those that went off in Varanasi last December and outside the Delhi high court this May.“Ammonium nitrate along with fuel oil was used in the previous blasts and in both cases the bombs were small and kept in tiffin carriers, which allowed better portability,” said an officer on condition of anonymity.

Investigators probing the triple blasts in Mumbai on July 13 have narrowed down the likely perpetrators to terror outfit Indian Mujahideen. This is after investigators concluded that the bombs used in Mumbai were similar to those that went off in Varanasi last December and outside the Delhi high court this May.

“Ammonium nitrate along with fuel oil was used in the previous blasts and in both cases the bombs were small and kept in tiffin carriers, which allowed better portability,” said an officer on condition of anonymity.

VARANASI: The forensic laboratories have confirmed the use of RDX in the December 7 blast on Old Dasaswamedh Ghat . However, unlike previous blasts, the terrorists have not mixed ammonium nitrate in the bomb.

According to sources, reports from forensic laboratories, including Forensic Science Institute of Gujarat , were received recently. They revealed the use of RDX in the bomb that was packed in a plastic lunch box. However, the other chemicals used with the RDX could not be confirmed. In the previous blasts, the terrorists had mixed ammonium nitrate with the RDX. But, in this bomb, ammonium nitrate had not been used, say reports.

So, was NH4NO3 used in the Varanasi bomb or was it only RDX? If it was not used, what is the credibility of the HT report, which claims a "similarity" to the Mumbai blasts on the basis of the bombs containing NH4NO3-fuel oil mixture?

These are pretty categorical statements in both places, and I think we do ourselves a disservice if we just ascribe the contradiction to "DDM-itis as usual."

Another instance where we have seen two completely contradictory streams of evidence: the Samjhauta Blasts. US intelligence agencies confirmed that the blasts had been carried out by an LeT operative, Arif Qasmani. Congress GOI, however, has gone out of its way to link the Samjhauta blasts to "Hindu terrorist" groups, claiming that RDX from Indian Army stock was supplied (via Colonel Purohit) to make the bombs. The trial of Purohit and his alleged co-conspirators, of course, has proved farcical. No connection to any IA RDX has been established.

So just a thought experiment here. If you were a Mainovadi like Digvijay Singh, and IF you wanted to blame blasts orchestrated by ISI/D-Company on "Hindu terrorists" instead, what would you do?

You would not admit the use of RDX. If RDX is admitted then some story has to be cooked up in order to cover up the involvement of Pakistan/ISI/LeT/D-Company. For example, the establishment of RDX in the Samjhauta Blast required the fabrication of "Colonel Purohit supplied RDX from Indian Army stock" ... an allegation that obviously stands on non-existent evidence.

Therefore, it is far better for you to simply deny that RDX is involved at all, and suppress reports which indicate the use of RDX in the devices. RDX, after all, means some "sophisticated enemy"... ISI and linked groups. You can't keep blaming IA officers all the time. So you simply claim (whatever the actual forensic evidence) that the bombs were NH4NO3 and fuel oil onlee.

I have learned from reading this thread that even NH4NO3 devices need a charge of RDX or some similar substance to set them off, but that may be lost on the general public. In the minds of aam janata, it may be fair to assume that RDX="sophisticated (foreign-linked) terrorist organization", but NH4NO3/fuel-oil = "homegrown terrorists", either dehaati IM types or "Hindu terrorists" depending on your predilections.

What evidence is there for the above speculation? None. But it is very curious, even Orwellian, to see reportage on the Varanasi blasts being altered so completely: from "RDX only without any NH4NO3" (TOI, Dec 26 2010) to "NH4NO3 plus fuel oil onlee" (HT, July 18 2011.)

Had it been a 26/11 type blasts or a Parl attack type stuff, by now they would have released the details of which sharpnel's pointer is from which lead shop in Karachi or which tailor has stitched the collar of the shirt etc would have come out. This is some this done by IM and hence we will get a lot of suspicious releases with no details.

i meant 'ouch' for the Maharashtra gov... Give's gujarat the publicity of a 'good' state in a way and thats GOTTA BE OUCH for any cangressi government right?

Oh yes. Absolutely. And I think the Maharashtra government would deserve that.

I think Mumbai businesses get an unfair advantage from the overcrowding and misery. Slums and pavement dwellers reduce labor costs. The Mumbai dream is a twin dream of "Live on a pittance on the pavement but manage to avoid starvation" for the poor migrant and "Rake in profits because of a huge supply of cheap labor" for rich businessmen. No government in Maharashtra wants to upset this cosy system. They are paid off by the rich businessmen not to upset the apple cart and the poor pavement and slum dwellers have no say. Mumbai would richly deserve a defection/migration of businesses from there - leading to some people waking up to smell the coffee. Hopefully.

To give some credit to our investigative agencies - one can expect that not all details will be released and some details will be complete rubbish - giving the impression that they know when they don't and that they don't know when they do.

BTW a spokesman for Diamond merchants said one day's business can install enough security that no one will think of setting of blasts in their area.If govt cant provide security based on track record from 1993 they plan to move where they can get the security.

Its possible he was speaking with some bitterness after providing hafta to the ruling party such durghtana still happens.

ramana wrote:BTW a spokesman for Diamond merchants said one day's business can install enough security that no one will think of setting of blasts in their area.If govt cant provide security based on track record from 1993 they plan to move where they can get the security.

Its possible he was speaking with some bitterness after providing hafta to the ruling party such durghtana still happens.

Correct! There is an inherent contradiction there. The government is supposed to serve everyone, but takes hafta from everyone and serves no one.

If Mumbai corporation were to clear up pavement dwellers and slum dwellers 1. They would be trampling on the legal rights of those people unless they addressed their problems adequately2. Many cheap services in Mumbai would be affected, leading to howls from the wealthy that the government was anti-business and racist.

If Mumbai has to clean things up legally, costs will rise. If costs rise, businessmen may pay costs, but will not pay hafta, so the politicians in Mumbai corporation and state government lose out. If they pay both costs and hafta, it will be cheaper to take the business elsewhere.

It's greed, greed, greed all around. Greed is institutionalized and accepted as fine and dandy until a terrorist attack occurs. After some time its back to greed. The "one's days money for security" is rubbish. Those cameras will require more police and staff for proper surveillance. That means more taxes.

^^^The post-blast photo showing all of that white smoke hanging in the air, is clear evidence that ANFO was used. RDX will blast without such smoke.

Also, as I've written earlier in this thread; the presence of broken glass that still hangs within the windshields and other windows of the nearby cars, clearly rules-out RDX or other high-brisance explosives.

It was definitely ANFO, and the priming charge was most likely a bit of TNT, probably of the sort that farmers will have on hand to kill prairie dogs and groundhogs and such (which dig holes in the ground that farm animals can break their legs in).

Investigations into the 13/7 serial blasts are focusing heavily on suspects in Gujarat, with the state Anti-Terrorism Squad (ATS) reportedly getting major leads pointing to the involvement of the Indian Mujahideen (IM).

Sources said the ATS, with the help of the Gujarat ATS, detained three suspects from Ahmedabad who are believed to be new IM recruits. The three have reportedly spilled the beans on the entire conspiracy. They are being brought to Mumbai for further investigations to decide the veracity of their statements. "We have now got concrete leads and are very confident of cracking the case," said a senior officer.

Meanwhile, state ATS sources said the Zaveri Bazar bomb was kept in a steel tiffin and on the scooter's seat, not in the boot. The Opera House bomb was planted in a dustbin, but whether a tiffin was used is not yet known. The Kalina Forensic Science Laboratory's (FSL) preliminary report says the bombs had ammonium nitrate and TNT.

Intercepted phone calls and emails have also given clues to investigators that the 13/7 triple blasts may have a Gujarat connection. The state ATS, along with central agencies, has been monitoring phone calls, which led to clues being unearthed on Saturday. "The calls intercepted are suspicious. Some calls are just two to three minutes long, but seem important. We cannot ignore such calls. Investigations are at such a stage that we cannot utter a single word about the probe," said a senior ATS officer.

Emails sent and received by arrested IM operative Danish Riyaz have not provided much information about the Mumbai blasts, but helped police know about other IM operatives. Danish was arrested three weeks ago by the Gujarat ATS. A two-member team from the National Technical Research Organization (NTRO), led by an inspector-general of police rank, was camping at ATS headquarters, Nagpada, Mumbai, on Monday. The NTRO suspects that some of the texts and pictures in Danish's emails could be a form of steganography, which involves hiding messages in small files.

Investigators probing the triple blasts in Mumbai on July 13 have narrowed down the likely perpetrators to terror outfit Indian Mujahideen. This is after investigators concluded that the bombs used in Mumbai were similar to those that went off in Varanasi last December and outside the Delhi high court this May.

“Ammonium nitrate along with fuel oil was used in the previous blasts and in both cases the bombs were small and kept in tiffin carriers, which allowed better portability,” said an officer on condition of anonymity.

He said investigators suspect that the same group is behind the two previous blasts and the firing at Delhi’s Jama Masjid in which a bus carrying foreigners was shot at by two motorcycle-borne assailants on September 19, 2010, a day before the Commonwealth Games began.

A bomb placed in a tiffin box had gone off at Sheetla Ghat in Varanasi on December 7, 2010. A girl had died instantly and more than 20 people were injured.

An elderly woman succumbed to her injuries later.

The bomb that exploded outside the Delhi high court on May 25 this year did not cause any casualties. Investigators suspect that a module of IM, comprising of youths from Azamgarh in UP, may have been involved in these attacks as well as in the Mumbai blasts.

“We suspect that like the previous module which carried out a series of attacks in 2008 and was busted by the Mumbai Police’s crime branch, this group is moving from one place to another and carrying out attacks. He said a police team had gone to Azamgarh to hunt for clues but returned empty-handed. Meanwhile, the CCTV footage from various cameras has been forwarded to a private firm to get clearer images.

Probe spreads across country

The probe into the serial blasts in Mumbai on July 13 has spread across the country and suspects are being questioned to establish leads.

Ahmedabad Police are interrogating Indian Mujahideen (IM) operative Danish Riyaz, who had sent emails to top leaders of the outfit before his arrest in June from Vadodara.

Riyaz, who was a techie, is an accused in the 2008 Gujarat blasts in which more than 50 people had died. "Before his arrest, Riyaz had sent emails to top brass of the IM like Abdus Shubhan alias Tauqeer, Abdul Raziq and Mujeeb Sheikh and

Kolkata-based Haroon. We are trying to find out if any exchanges took place between them in connection with the recent blasts in Mumbai," Joint CP , Ahmedabad crime branch, Mohan Jha said.

Bihar Police are questioning suspected Harkat-ul-Jihad-al-Islami (HuJI) operative Mohammad Riyazul Sarkar, who was arrested from Kishanganj district on Saturday.

Kishanganj superintendent of police RK Mishra said Sarkar was a Bangladeshi national and had sneaked into India in 2000.

He added Sarkar’s hands were burnt and so are being examined.

Meanwhile, the union home ministry has asked intelligence agencies to prepare a list of persons who have disappeared from four West Bengal districts bordering neighbouring Bangladesh — Malda, Murshidabad, Nadia and North 24 Parganas — from where terrorist outfits are suspected of roping in recruits.

No more recruitment drives in sensitised states of India - is the clear diktat Pakistan-based terrorist organisation Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT) has given to its Indian cells. The diktat came in 2009 after Indian Mujahideen operatives and Simi activists were arrested in a massive crackdown across the country following bomb blasts in Ahmedabad, Jaipur, Delhi, Bangalore and Uttar Pradesh, said sources in the central intelligence agencies.

The crackdown had led to arrest of more than 30 IM operatives and Simi activists from various states after which LeT reviewed its recruitment and training strategy, sources added.

The revelation came from Mohammed Safikul, a LeT operative arrested from Malda, West Bengal in January 2009. Safikul had told interrogators about LeT's revised strategy and had named those he had recruited from the states of West Bengal, Bihar, Assam and Tripura.

Danish Riyaz, who is in custody of Detection of Crime Branch, Ahmedabad, and Abu Faisal, in custody of Madhya Pradesh ATS, has corroborated Safikul's statement.

"A computer hard disk seized from Riyaz, who is adept with Internet technologies, speaks volumes of the plans laid out by LeT," said a senior IPS officer from Gujarat.

The others in IM were asked to recruit only from Bihar and West Bengal, and if possible from the northeastern states, added the officer.

"Danish and Faisal said their handlers from Pakistan had warned them against visiting the states of Uttar Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh, Maharashtra, Delhi and Karnataka," said a senior police officer investigating the triple blasts in Mumbai.

This was primarily because the LeT feared that state governments had stepped up vigil against IM operatives.

According to LeT handlers, Bihar and West Bengal governments had not been sensitised enough to carry out massive raids against their cadre, neither was public awareness against terrorism generated, said intelligence sources.

Danish and Faisal have also told investigators about the use of Simi activists as over ground workers in a manner similar to those in Jammu and Kashmir.

A host of names, which popped up after the arrest of Safdar Nagori and 12 other Simi activists, is being verified by investigators for funding LeT's activities in India, said sources in the intelligence bureau.

Ravi Karumanchiri wrote:^^^The post-blast photo showing all of that white smoke hanging in the air, is clear evidence that ANFO was used. RDX will blast without such smoke.

Also, as I've written earlier in this thread; the presence of broken glass that still hangs within the windshields and other windows of the nearby cars, clearly rules-out RDX or other high-brisance explosives.

It was definitely ANFO, and the priming charge was most likely a bit of TNT, probably of the sort that farmers will have on hand to kill prairie dogs and groundhogs and such (which dig holes in the ground that farm animals can break their legs in).

Ravi, No farmer gets gunpowder let alone TNT in India. And there are no prairie dogs only Paki ones in India.

Intelligence sleuths claim terror suspect Haroon, who was arrested by the Kolkata police for his role in the Mumbai blasts, had visited the city in June and spent some time with suspected Indian Mujahideen (IM) operative Danish Riyaz to discuss about recruitment of youth and carrying out strikes.

According to sources, Haroon, who came to the city in the first week of June, stayed with Danish at his rented accommodation in Tolichowki.

Danish had been working as a database administrator with a small IT firm in Banjara Hills. He was arrested by the Ahmedabad police in the 2008 serial blasts case after he disembarked from the Secunderabad-Rajkot express in Vadodara in the last week of June.

Investigating agencies came to know about the link while they were screening emails of Danish.

During interrogation after the recent blasts, he revealed that Haroon met him in Hyderabad to discuss about recruitment of youth to send them for training to Pakistan.

Initially, investigating agencies suspected that Danish was in the city to keep him off the police radar. "Danish provided shelter to absconding IM operatives like Tauqeer at his residence in Ranchi. First we thought his job in Hyderabad was just to keep off police radar, but following new leads, that he was meeting IM operatives from the city, we again need to probe his activities," an intelligence officer said.

Intelligence sleuths grilled the owner of the house and office staff of Danish. Some incriminating evidence was also collected. After analysing seized materials like computer hard discs, police stumbled on the Haroon link.

NIA sources said during interrogation, terror suspect Faiz Usmani, who died in police custody, told the Mumbai ATS about an IM module in Bangalore. Acting on the lead, the ATS team picked up five members, including a Hyderabadi from Bangalore and they are currently being grilled.

"During Danish's interrogation, it was learnt that to confuse cops they had floated a new outfit, 'Bullet 313', somewhere in December 2010 to recruit youth for jihadi activities. While recruitment was done in the name of Bullet group to attract youth, funds were collected in the name of another outfit called Jamat Ansarul Muslimeen (JAM). We suspect that recruitment was done from across the country, including Hyderabad. We are using informers to get information," an NIA source said.

The Gujarat police is tracking a mystery woman who they claim to belong to the terror outfit Indian Mujahideen. She reportedly came to Ahmedabad on July 8.

Two days ago, the Madhya Pradesh police informed their Gujarat counterparts about a 25-year-old woman IM member who travelled as Kalpana from Indore to Ahmedabad on a bus that day.

Gujarat police tried to trace her with the help of travel agents. Cops checked registers and questioned travel agency managers. They zeroed in on two passengers listed as Kalpana who travelled from Indore on July 8 by buses. The police has found the mobile numbers they registered with the travel agents and got their call records. The number of a Gujarat IPS officer figures in the call list of one of the women.

The woman's trail went cold after the police found the caller list. Cops do not know if she is still in Ahmedabad. The MP police had informed that the woman suspect carried money from the IM to give to families of terror accused. The police are not sure yet if Kalpana is an assumed name. This is the first time the police has found a woman's involvement in IM operations, said sources.

IM operative Danish Riyaz (29) arrested from Vadodara in June had told the police that some members of the outfit had robbed an Indore finance company for money to pay lawyers defending the Gujarat serial blast accused and to support their families.

Sabarmati central jail has 56 IM members arrested in the July 26, 2008 blasts in which 57 people were killed.

Tackling terror suspects or leads in a democracy should be about being able to provide evidence that hold up in courts of law which lead up to the guilty being charged and sentenced effectively. This is no 'meek liberal' argument about the wrongness of rounding up the usual suspects alone, but also about sticking to a standard procedure that enables the guilty to be punished — and those innocent to walk free. In a charged atmosphere, even though the temptation may be to discount judicial 'collateral damage', the focus should not waver from sticking to procedures. If one looks at the history of anti-terrorism laws in India down the years, what has crippled legislations is not the laws themselves but investigation procedures. This would be a test case to set things right.

What the writer seems to miss is that terror is no ordiniray crime. The methods to fight it cannot always be the ones that will stand judicial scrutiny in an open court without doing greater harm to the security of the nation.

Investigators on Monday were taking the help of a foreign firm to enhance the image of some crucial CCTV footages at the three sites of Mumbai serial blast and were keenly looking at the identity of one person, as they continued to struggle for a breakthrough. “There was a need to enhance the image. We are taking the help of technical experts of a foreign-based firm for this job,” said a senior Mumbai police official.

On aajtak; a completely diff perspective is being shown again and again..bombers were trained in Karachi, trainers are paki but recruits are Indians, they have taken help of underworld infrastructure in mumbai, they came to India through Sri lanka (???), stayed some where in South India then moved to Mumbai to carry out this. Before they show all this garbage will they care to tell what is the evidence..?

Clearly it needs plenty of ground support , even in Mumbai 26/11 there must have been many involved on ground level (othen than 10 who carried out attack..) why we are unable to hold them..? Why is our enemy always elusive, never caught (with so many agencies-IB, RAW, CBI, NIA, ATS, state police..)? Why is US. UK able to catch them? why why why?? WHy can't we have a strong anti terrorism law applicable all over India

Afte r 26/11 ratan tata declared they can't rely on govt's agency for security and would develop their own for taj, it seems business be it small or big will have to do same. Diamond merchants are already moving to bandra kurla complex where they will have tight security (of their own)

speculation around perpetrators is coming from other states than maharashtra - i guess political points are being scored by everyone. shamelessly. for a while i was getting comforted by the good site and communications discipline being shown by this incident's management... oh well

on the topic of mumbai corruption, it saddens me greatly to say that i have met several 'venerable gentlemen' who are relatively high up in the establishment of the city who are part of the broken system. they see nothing wrong in being able to extract their own (substantial) rent from these enterprises. whilst its no different in the rest of india, in mumbai it seems to be more acute. i have not doubt that if we could remove this overhead from indian companies and distributed it either as taxes or wages to other indians, then gdp/head would rise substantially and god forbid, government services would improve signficantly

Lalmohan wrote:speculation around perpetrators is coming from other states than maharashtra - i guess political points are being scored by everyone. shamelessly. for a while i was getting comforted by the good site and communications discipline being shown by this incident's management... oh well

Lalmullah ji - are you implying Gujarat ATS should not have gotten involved? Why so?